The full chart note for Souper Dormy at Gulfstream yesterday: “stalked the pace two wide, took the lead around the far turn, drew clear in upper stretch, fell leaving the eighth pole and was euthanized.” (I suppose you have to admire the writer’s pithiness.) Worse still, after falling, Souper was hit by another horse, Lights of Broadway, who although fell himself was said to have “walked off.” We’ll see.
By the way, this was a “claiming race” – all entrants, including Souper and Lights, were there for the taking just prior to – so you know the only reason the Thoroughbred Daily News covered the kill is because Souper’s jockey-exploiter, Mario Gutierrez, “was transported to the hospital with complaints of a sore hip.”
This is horseracing.
Elizabeth it was HORRIFIC
“Fell leaving the eighth pole and was euthanized” reads like a routine equipment change, not the violent end of a living horse.
It is grotesque when you pause to consider what actually occurred on the track at Gulfstream Park. The added detail that Souper Dormy was struck by Lights of Broadway, who also fell but reportedly “walked off” underscores how chaotic and dangerous these incidents are. In multi-horse fields traveling at speed, a breakdown rarely affects just one participant. Race horses are treated like commodities and when something goes wrong, the consequences are irreversible for them. Catastrophes like this strip away the pageantry. Yes, this is horseracing.